Van den Berg, D. J.Lauwrens, Jennifer2016-01-152016-01-152014-10http://hdl.handle.net/11660/2216English: According to proponents of the so-called ‘sensory turn’ the varied layers of a person’s experience of the social and material world produced via the senses of taste, touch, hearing and smell have largely been neglected in academic research on art. It is precisely because a person’s embodied and sensual engagement is increasingly being recognised as co-constitutive of the dynamic relationship occurring between people and art that dealing with the visual alone has been found to be insufficient and has brought about a shift in interest toward the other senses. Working between the disciplines of art history and visual culture studies, this research engages with art in ways that exceed the visual in order to understand the embodied and engaged interactions at work between a person and art. I argue that scholarly investigations of the visual field have, until recently, often avoided explorations of the affective, multisensorial body of a viewer in relation to what s/he sees even though many art practices invite the engagement and participation of the whole body beyond spectatorship only. In a close analysis of two installations, a land art piece, one video and one entire participatory exhibition the possible ways in which to theorise the involvement of the whole person in aesthetic experience and not only the mind, intellect or consciousness are explored. It is argued that a re-conception of art and spectatorship as embodied interaction provides a far more nuanced understanding of people’s experiences of art than ideologically and interpretative driven ‘readings’ only. The theme of embodied spectatorship and contemporary art is approached in particular through the lenses of the sensory turn, the pictorial turn, the corporeal turn, empathy theory, affect theory, phenomenology and aesthetic embodiment and engagement. By placing various examples of contemporary art in dialogue with these theoretical perspectives the limitations of traditional notions regarding aesthetic spectatorship are exposed. This leads to the beginning of a broader conversation about the role and status of a whole embodied sensual being in her/his encounter with specific materialities of art. My basic theoretical standpoint is that a person’s embodied and engaged experience is the starting point from which investigations of art can productively proceed. In other words, by means of a predominantly phenomenological approach that describes aesthetic situations and encounters, it is argued that direct experience does not simply contribute to, but rather has a primacy and authority in encounters with art, and should, therefore, be investigated.Afrikaans: Volgens ondersteuners van die sogenaamde ‘sensoriese omwenteling’ is die verskeie lae van ʼn persoon se ervaring van die sosiale en materiële (wesenlike) wêreld, wat deur middel van die sintuie van smaak, tas, gehoor en reuk ervaar word, oor die algemeen veronagsaam in akademiese navorsing oor kuns. Dit is juis omdat ʼn persoon se beliggaamde en sensuele samestelling as ʼn dinamiese verhouding tussen mens en kuns beskryf kan word, dat die eenduidige fokus op die visuele as onvoldoende ontbloot word. Deur tussen die dissiplines van kunsgeskeidenis en visuelekultuurstudies te werk, benader hierdie navorsing kuns op wyses wat die visuele oorstyg om sodoende die beliggaamde en noue verbintenis tussen mens en kuns te verstaan. My uitgangspunt is dat akademiese navorsing in die visuele veld tot onlangs toe nog verkies het om die affektiewe en multisensoriese liggaam te ontken, ten spyte daarvan dat vele kuns praktyke juis die deelname van die hele liggaam uitnooi. Deur ʼn nougesette analise van twee installasies, ʼn landkunswerk, een video en een uitstalling waarin ʼn waarnemer uitgenooi is om deel te neem, word moontlike wyses ondersoek waarop die deelname van die volledige persoon tydens estetiese ervarings, en nie slegs die verstand, intellek of bewussyn nie, ondersoek. Daar word geargumenteer dat ʼn herkonseptualisering van kuns en waarneming as beliggaamde interaksie tot ʼn meer genuanseerde begrip van menslike ervaringe van kuns kan lei as interpretasies wat slegs fokus op die ‘lees’ van ideologiese betekenisse. Die tema van beliggaamde waarneming en kontemporêre kuns word hier geanaliseer veral deur die lens van die sensoriese omwenteling, die piktorale omwenteling, die liggaamlike omwenteling, empatie teorie, affek teorie, fenomenologie en estetiese beliggaming. Deur verskeie voorbeelde van kontemporêre kuns in gesprek te bring met hierdie teoretiese uitgangspunte, word die beperkinge van tradisionele idees oor estetiese waarneming ontbloot. Hierdie analise lei tot die begin van ʼn wyer gesprek aangaande die rol en status van ʼn volledige beliggaamde wese in haar/sy ontmoeting met spesifieke manifestasies van kuns. My basiese teoretiese standpunt is dat ʼn mens se beliggaamde en vervlegde ervaring die vrugbare beginpunt is vanwaar ondersoeke oor kuns behoort te spruit. Met ander woorde, deur middel van ʼn oorheersend fenomenologiese benadering wat estetiese situasies en ontmoetinge beskryf, word hier geargumenteer dat direkte ervaring nie net bydra tot, maar eerder ʼn voorrang en selfs outoriteit behoort te geniet in besinninge oor kuns.enThesis (Ph.D. (Art History and Visual Culture Studies))--University of the Free State, 2014AestheticsSenses and sensation in artArts, Modern -- 20th centuryMultisensorialityOcularcentrismEmbodied spectatorshipContemporary artSensory turnPictorial turnCorporeal turnEmpathy theoryAffect theoryPhenomenologyAaesthetic embodimentAesthetic engagementVisual tactilityThesisUniversity of the Free State